Harry de Windt
Captain Harry de Windt | |
|---|---|
 Harry de Windt pictured in his From Paris to New York by Land | |
| Born | Harry Willes Darell de Windt 9 April 1856 |
| Died | 30 November 1933 (aged 77) Bournemouth, England |
| Education | Magdalene College, Cambridge |
| Spouse(s) |
Frances Laura Arabella Long
(m. 1882; div. 1888)Hilda Frances E. Clark
(m. 1899; died 1924)Charlotte Elizabeth Ihle
(m. 1927; died 1933) |
| Children | Margaret Maude de Windt |
| Parent(s) | Joseph Clayton Jennyns de Windt |
| Relatives | Margaret Brooke (sister) |
Captain Harry Willes Darell de Windt FRGS[1] (9 April 1856 – 30 November 1933) was an explorer and travel writer.[2] His books were published under the name of Harry de Windt.
Early life
[edit]Harry de Windt was born on 9 April 1856 in Paris. He was the son of Capt. Joseph Clayton Jennyns de Windt, of Blunsdon Hall, between Swindon and Highworth in Wiltshire, England,and Elizabeth Sarah Johnson.[3] Among his sibilings was sister Margaret Alice Lili de Windt, who married Charles Brooke.
He was admitted to Magdalene College, Cambridge in 1875, but did not take a degree, travelling with his brother-in-law.[4]
Career
[edit]From 1876 to 1878, de Windt served as aide-de-camp to his brother-in-law, Charles Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak.[5]
In April 1897, while attempting to travel, by land, from New York to Paris, he became seriously at Paris after enduring exposure and ill treatment at Tchuktchis, Bering Strait.[6] In July 1902, he reached Dawson after traveling from Siberia on a river steamer with Viscount Desclinchams, Belgrade of Paris, George Harding (an English photographer),[7] and Stephen Rastorguyef (a Russian from Yakutakat who "the Russian government insisted should accompany De Windt through the wilds of Siberia").[8]
Personal life
[edit]On 18 July 1882 at St George's, Hanover Square in London, he married Frances Laura Arabella Long (1864–1932), a daughter of Richard Penruddocke Long and Charlotte Anna Hume. Among her siblings was Walter Hume Long, 1st Viscount Long of Wraxall. Before their divorce in 1888, they were the parents of:
- Margaret Maude de Windt (1884–1967), who married Brig.-Gen. Arthur George Preston McNalty, a British Army field commander of both the Second Boer War and the First World War, in 1905. They divorced in 1921.
After their divorce, Frances married civil engineer Anthony George Lyster in 1892 and Harry married Hilda Frances E. Clark (1873–1924), a daughter of the Rev. Professor William Robinson Clark and Elizabeth Jane (née Higgins) Clark, in 1899. She died, without issue, in 1924.
In 1927, he married the actress Charlotte Elizabeth Ihle, better known by her stage name, Elaine Inescourt. She was previously married to the Scots-born journalist John "Jock" Wrightman, with whom she had a daughter, actress Frieda Inescort.[5]
Harry died at Bournemouth on 30 November 1933.[9] His widow died in Brighton, England, aged 87, on 7 July 1964.
Works
[edit]- On the equator (1882)
- From Pekin to Calais by land (1889)
- A ride to India across Persia and Baluchistan (1891)
- Through the gold-fields of Alaska to Bering Straits (1898)[10]
- True tales of travel and adventure. Chatto. 1899.
- From Paris to New York by land (1903), 1904 2nd printing
- Through Savage Europe; Being the Narrative of a Journey (undertaken as Special Correspondent of the Westminster Gazette), throughout the Balkan States and European Russia; With one hundred illustrations. London: T. Fisher Unwin. 1907. Retrieved 21 March 2019 – via Internet Archive.
- Moles and their Meaning. London: C. Arthur Pearson Ltd. 1907.
- My note-book at home and abroad. E. P. Dutton and co. 1923.
References
[edit]- ^ "Election of Fellows". Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society. New Series. 12: 356. 1890.
- ^ "DE WINDT, Harry". Who's Who. Vol. 59. 1907. p. 481.
- ^ "Sunday blazing Sunday brings down Blunsdon Abbey, recalls Barry Leighton". Swindon Advertiser. 2016-03-09. Retrieved 2023-09-15.
- ^ "De Windt, Harry Willes Darrell (D875HW)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ a b "EXPLORER DE WINDT, 71, TAKES ACTRESS BRIDE; Author Marries in London Elaine Inescourt, Who Appeared Here in "Smilin' Through."". The New York Times. 11 November 1927. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
- ^ "Harry De Windt in London". The New York Times. 14 April 1897. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
- ^ "By George, I've found long-lost explorer's family". Dorset Echo. 22 September 2004. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
- ^ "HARRY DE WINDT AT DAWSON.; Traveling Explorer Reaches There from Siberia After Hardships". The New York Times. 17 July 1902. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
- ^ To/as, Wireless to THE NSW YORK (2 December 1933). "HARRY DE WINDT, EXPLORER, IS DEAD; Traveled by Land From Paris to New York, Arriving in 1902 --Guest at White House. STUDIEP SIBERIAN PRISONS Visited Klondike Gold Fieldsu Wrote Many Novels, Books of Poetry and Memorabilia". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
- ^ "Review of Through the Gold-Fields of Alaska to Bering Straits". The Athenæum (3675): 435–436. April 2, 1898.
External links
[edit]
Media related to Harry de Windt at Wikimedia Commons- Harry de Windt biographical information.
- Works by Harry De Windt at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Harry de Windt at the Internet Archive
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| People | |
| Other | |
